Crime worries

EDITOR Ross Crawford is right to chide negative attitude and grumbles of some Solihull residents, about performance of our local police.

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EDITOR Ross Crawford is right to chide negative attitude and grumbles of some Solihull residents, about performance of our local police. For the 12 months up to June 2010, the Labour Government supplied finance for many more police and support officers, whilst increasingly using civilians for ‘back office’ administration.

Local commanders have thus been able to deploy these funds very successfully. Result is volume of most crime has dropped by eight per cent locally and nationally.

The new ‘spanner in works’ is the Con/Lib cutbacks to the police budget. Crime will eventually increase and as several commanders have said, this will be regular happy Christmas for ciminals and extra danger to the public, whose fears will then be justified.

Don Bargery

Alston Road, Solihull

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Supermarkets

ROBERT Birch and Jonathan Cox of Shirley Advance are correct. The Conservative controlled council did identify the need for the ‘New Heart of Shirley’ many years ago.

In a report by that council to the Government inspector they stated that there was a need for another supermarket, Adsa, because - you could not purchase a week’s bulk shopping from the existing supermarket.

This is false, not true, a lie.

We have been able to purchase a week’s bulk shopping from Shirley’s existing supermarket for over 30 years. With easy access by foot, bus or car.

‘Parkgate’ is an unwanted and unecessary supermarket joined by a narrow rain and windswept alley to a few persistantly and consistently unnamed shops. The whole development is open to the ‘late night low life’ no wonder they can’t find an honest reason for it. The superb weatherproof and secure Touchwood is a tribute, a salute to Solihull, Parkgate is an insult to Shirley.

What Shirley needs is non retail jobs and customers for its retailers. But Solihull council decided to give the new 112 bedroom hotel to Solihull. Why was it not built on the Powergen site?

The real reason the council have for Parkgate is to set a precedent for building on precious parkland.

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